Ineos Grenadiers rider Egan Bernal will undergo a second round of neurosurgery following a serious crash during training in Colombia last week, the Bogota clinic where he was being treated said on Tuesday.
The former Tour de France winner slammed into a stationary bus on the outskirts of Bogota on Monday, sustaining injuries to his spine, legs and chest. He was rushed to hospital where doctors performed successful neurosurgery.
New tests on Tuesday then confirmed the need for a second spinal operation.
“After advancing in recovery … new diagnostic imaging was carried out and it was determined, on an interdisciplinary basis, that he will be submitted to an operation at the level of the cervical spine,” the hospital said in a statement.
“This intervention will favour his process of rehabilitation. We advance with the patient in all his processes of recovery, confident of a swift improvement.
“We will be reporting the postoperative evolution of the athlete at the time the procedure is completed.”
In a statement on social media on Jan. 29, Bernal said there was a 95per cent chance of him becoming a paraplegic due to the crash.
Bernal’s team mate Brandon Rivera is receiving treatment at the same hospital after injuring his elbow and shoulder in a separate incident while training in the same area.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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